Coming Home to Roost
by Ketowyne
Summary: Post-series, my ideas about how it could have gone...So when the lost make themselves found again what are they going to do? Usual pairings, rating a precation for now.
1. Notes

Disclaimer: WHR, and all characters from it are not mine…sigh

**Notes**

It had been almost three whole years since the factory's destruction, and Michael had finally begun to truly believe Dojima and Karasuma. He had been the last one to believe that they could be wrong, that some how Robin and Amon had survived, but then today's mail had arrived. Addressed to the Chief, it hadn't taken long for the whole STN-J to be notified of what had been in the envelope air mailed from America. Now, four people sat around a table in Harry's, reading the strange message again and again, not sure what to do with the information enclosed.

"It's just a mass card for Robin" Karasuma said slowly for the fourth time.

Michael shook his head"But it came with that note, Dojima let me look at it again."

"Why? We've all read it" the blond woman said as she leaned forward to pass him the note. "It says 'In memory of the caged bird' and has a phone number for the couple who sent it." She settled back into the warmth of Nagira's arm and waited for the next round of useless debate to begin.

Michael and Karasuma were again carefully reading the three line note, but Nagira had yet to comment on what he had seen. It made Dojima suspicious and she asked him"You're awfully quiet, why"

His answer was to take the note, copy down the number and put it in his pocket. He then excused himself from the table"I have to go back to the office before you know who gets upset. I think I'll give Mr. and Mrs. MacLeary a call tonight and thank them." He pulled a second scrap of paper out of his coat and put it down with the strange note in the middle of the table. "Just incase Yurika-chan wasn't nice enough to share my phone number, I'll call in later and let you know how it went."

Karasuma reached to slide Nagira's phone number to herself and gasped softly. _Amon, slipping this very piece of paper into Robin's hair, speaking to her quickly then shoving her further into the darkness. Later, Nagira fingering the paper with a longing look in his eyes._

"What's wrong" Dojima asked quickly, alerted that the other woman had sensed something with her craft.

"I see an interesting phone call from Nagira. We need to get back to work before Sakaki gets himself in trouble again…"


	2. Phone Calls

**Author Notes:**

_Italic_ print indicates thought.

WHR is still not mine…

**Chapter 2: Phone Calls**

Nagira leaned back in his chair. His feet were propped up on the edge of the desk and his hands folded behind his head while he waited for the phone to ring. He glanced again at the clock which now read 18:27. "Damn," he cursed softly. "I hope I remembered what Yurika told me about her friend correctly."

He could still see Robin the day she arrived at his office. Tear stained cheeks, heavy black dress hanging from her sad little frame, and a note in his little brother's handwriting extended toward him in a shaking hand. _"He said to contact you," she whispered._ He had taken the note from her then and kept it safe all this time, taking it out only when the memory threatened to fade from his grasp.

After reading the note sent to the STN-J from the Americans, he had jumped to a conclusion. _Robert and Sarah MacLeary,_ he mused again, _such an odd name combination._ The light research he had done this afternoon showed a Robert MacLeary and Sarah Cantor first appearing in New York about two years ago, but nothing before that. _The only thing I have to go on is a marriage license and a quarter column marriage announcement in a local paper._

He wished he had better connections at the immigration offices that could have looked into it further for him. Nagira was willing to lay money against those two being life time residents of that area, and wondered again why the paper hadn't run a picture with their announcement as they had with all the others. He closed his eyes and carefully visualized the mass card and phone number again. _It looks so much like his hand writing,_ he bit the inside of his lip.

The shrill tones of his phone ringing called his attention back to the office. Predictably, his secretary appeared in the doorway with her coat on. "I'm on my way out," she said sulkily, "It's some woman calling herself Karasuma." She turned and stalked across the office.

Smiling for the first time all day, he answered the phone. "I see you got my message, what do you think?"

Sarah MacLeary lurched into consciousness when the phone began ringing near 5 am. Dawn had only just begun to break over the Catskills; just enough for her to see where the trees ended and the sky began without squinting. Her eyes struggled to focus on the caller ID display. "Who the h…" She mumbled incoherently before picking up the receiver with a groggy, "Yeah."

A man's voice introducing himself and asking for her in heavily accented English quickly brought her to full awareness. "Yes, this is she," she responded carefully, pushing a lock of light brown hair out of her face.

"I'm sorry to call at this hour, but I could not wait to thank you." Nagira hesitated, wondering if perhaps he'd been mistaken. He had been expecting a familiar voice, but aside from the formality in her voice this woman sounded nothing like Robin.

"Oh, please don't mention it, it was the least we could do," she paused for a moment. "It was actually Rob's idea, let me get him on the phone for you."

As she put the phone down she was careful to mute it so that Nagira wouldn't be able to hear her speaking. Sarah pulled the top sheet off her bed and wrapped it around herself quickly before opening the door leading to the hallway. She went to the head of the stairs, looking for the familiar glow of the TV that remained on until she rose each day. "It's for you," she called down the stairs, "You want me to stay on?"

His voice still made her heart flutter every time she heard it. "Yes, just don't take off the mute. Which one of them is it?"

"Shunji," she replied as she turned back to her room. At her door she waited, it wasn't in her nature to listen in on other people's conversations. Time was when she would do as he asked without question, but this time it felt wrong. She paced slowly back to her bed and sat down on the edge of it.

Sarah picked up her line as Nagira was saying, "…such a short time with you before then? Would you like to visit us here some time? There are quite a few people who would be happy to meet you."

Silence for a moment, and she could almost see the strong features of Rob's face subtly shifting the way they did before he told a lie he didn't want to. "That's very kind of you. I'll have to see if I can talk Sarah into flying though, she's terrified of traveling out of the country. If you could leave your number…"

Sarah put down the handset again, not quite believing her ears. _He's actually considering it!_ Thoughts scurried around her brain, _It's been so long since we went anywhere…_

Her reverie was interrupted by the sound of Rob coming up the stairs. She glanced around for her robe, but settled for tightening her hold on the sheet when he tapped on the door. "Come in," she said quietly.

He padded over to her bed and sat down next to her, pulling her closer until her head rested on his shoulder. It was a rare thing for him to show her any affection, so she curled in closer to enjoy the moment while it lasted. When she had her face buried in his hair, she sighed and tried to ignore the garish shade of red he'd dyed it this month. "Do you think…?" She lifted her eyes to meethis pleadingly as her question trailed off unasked.

For the first time since they'd settled here, he smiled. Not the big fake grin he wore when they were invited to the neighbor's house for dinner or a party, but the tiny little smirk he used to sport when something had pleased him. "Go back to sleep, we'll talk more when I see you this afternoon."


	3. Reluctance

**Note:** WHR still not mine, but a girl's gotta dream right?

Sarah studied her husband carefully while she put the final touches on their meal. The phone call they had received almost a week ago was still bothering him, she could see it in the stiffness that had returned to his shoulders. She didn't want to ruin the one meal they ate together, but something had to be resolved and she was not going to settle for another round of, "we'll talk more." She turned the on hot water in the sink and drained the excess oil from the pan she had been using.

_He's thinking about it again,_ she thought privately. _Three years ago today and he's still thinking about it. _"I think we should go home," she said quietly, waiting to see his reaction at her directness. When he didn't answer, she added a gentle tease, "And we should wash our hair before we do."

"Are you sure?" he asked. He pinned her with a serious stare. "I only wanted to let them know Robin and Amon had survived the factory, and nothing beyond that."

She met his eyes, her depth equaling his caution, "They suspect much more."

Rob didn't answer right away, choosing instead to pick at his dinner for a few moments. "Nagira may think he recognized my voice, but yours made him doubt just enough."

Sarah balled up a napkin and playfully tossed it at him to lighten the mood, "Never mind that you say more in one day now than the first year I knew you!" _Now, I need to get him to agree now, or it will never happen... _She didn't want to use this tactic with him, but she couldn't think of anything else that would shock him enough to work.

"Besides, Husband Mine, I do believe Amon's getting tired of your taste in hair dye."

He sighed heavily, a noise he had recently become accustomed to making when she pushed him like this. "Fine, but until we know more, nothing else changes, just my hair color…" He tried his best to focus on the meal and ignore the smug grin on Sarah's face. _You really do become what you live, _he noted sarcastically.

Nagira was busy typing up notes relating to a case for one of his special clients, a cigarette hanging precariously from his lip, when the phone rang. He glanced at the mini-switchboard to see if it was his personal extension before realizing that it was his cell phone and not the office line. "Yes," he answered.

"I'm coming home for a visit, call me at home later and we'll set it up."

The caller hung up immediately after delivering his message, but after what was said, Nagira was not surprised. He rested his head on one hand and lit another cigarette.

"Amon, you little bastard," he said to the now closed cell phone, "I knew you weren't dead."


	4. Plans

**Notes:**

First, my apologies for the delay in updating, but I felt that it would be good to pay attention to my day job…

Next…For some reason I can not get my scene break markers to display, if any of you have suggestions please email me via the link in my profile.

Finally, though I wish I could say differently, WHR and all their characters are not mine. Sarah and Robert, however, are. Thanks for reading, enjoy!

**Chapter 4: Plans**

Amon turned away from the pay phone, and curled his fingers a little more tightly around the plastic shopping bag he carried. As he walked back to his car, he considered again what Sarah had talked him into doing. He hated when she was right, almost as much as he hated himself for releasing Robin to some one else's care two years ago. Once more, he reminded himself that it had been necessary to keep them all safe.

One of the places that he and Robin had tried to settle down had been in a small Irish town, but newcomers were easily identified and Solomon had located them quickly. The young couple that had been helping them found it necessary to flee as well when Sarah used a form of telekinetics to keep the hunters away from her home. Six airports and four countries later, the four of them had found themselves in the United States with a dwindling supply of cash.

Amon slammed the car into gear and turned the radio up. Rob had suggested that they part ways, and trade partners temporarily to help confuse their trail. Sarah and Robin quickly agreed, leaving him no choice but to go along with it. Initially they had all remained in New York City, Amon and Rob making contact with the people that would be able to make the documents to hold up their new identities. After six months, the two pairs had put distance between themselves.

Amon and Sarah lived in upstate New York, leading the relatively quite life that she and Rob had originally planned on. Their neighbors knew them as Robert and Sarah, happily married, though the only time they shared a bed was when drunken party guests needed to be fooled. Of its own volition, Amon's hand strayed to the letter he kept in his pocket. It was dutifully addressed to his alias, and signed by another woman calling herself Sarah. The fluid and graceful handwriting was Robin's, and this letter was the latest of many to bring them news of each other.

Robin had gone to New Jersey with Robert, hoping to lose themselves among the poorer districts in the northern part of that state. That the last hunter to have appeared in the US looking for them had been almost a year ago was sign enough to them all that they had succeeded. Amon did not know the particulars of their cover, and felt better that no one could slip and endanger them. The letter in his pocket had been as close to begging as he had ever heard Robin come. She wanted to go home, and she was not referring to Italy.

Sarah was waiting on the porch when he pulled up to the house they were renting. He was startled again by the few, but strong, similarities between her and Robin. The shape of their jaws, and the green eyes were nearly identical; they were both quite slender but there the similarities ended. The memory of Robin dying her hair to match Sarah's unremarkable shade still brought mixed emotions to the surface every time Amon thought about it.

Closing the car door, he forced a well rehearsed smile to his lips and Sarah, recognizing her cue, dashed down the steps to embrace her friend. The woman tending her garden in the next yard smiled and thought of when her own marriage had been young.

Two days later and three hundred miles away, Robin leaned over the railings and stared at the murky water of the Hudson River. For the first time in recent memory, she was deeply troubled. Rob would know to find her here when he got off work later, somehow she always found her way down the hill to this place when she needed to think. Crumpled in her pocket were a typically short missive from Amon, and a surprisingly long letter from Sarah for her instead of Rob.

_Meet us on the 9th at Nagira's_…was all Amon had had to say this month. It seemed to her that the plan the four of them had devised early last year had finally been put into motion. She sighed heavily and raised her eyes to stare through the midtown skyline across the river. "But is it really safe?" she whispered to herself.


End file.
